in the heart of our democracy and as you consider a year end gift, your tax deductible support matters. c-span is a nonprofit with no government funding and our independence is sustained by citizens like you who believe in open government. we are there for major legislation, executive decisions and pivotal supreme court cases so every american can witness their democracy in action. your support keeps this unfiltered access strong. please, give today at c-span.org/donate. >> friday on ceasefire, at a time when common ground is difficult in washington, kevin mccarthy and joe manchin come together to preview the year ahead in politics including the upcoming midterm elections and political and legislative battles ahead in washington. they join dasha burns. >> bridging the divide in american politics. >> watch ceasefire at 7:00 p.m.

and 10:00 p.m. eastern and pacific only on c-span. >> i saw you interviewed the other night and i watched about 2:00 in the morning. it was a little thing called c-span and i do not know how many people were watching. you were on prime time but they >> happen to have coverage. do you really think that we do not remember what happened last week? thank you for c-span and we should review the tape. >> everybody wonders what the conversations are on the floor. >> i am about to read to you something published by c-span. >> there is a lot of things that congress fights about that we can do use agree on and we can watch that on c-span. >> millions of people across the country tuned into c-span. >> that was a made for c-span moment. >> if you watch on c-span you will see me physically across the aisle every day just trying

to build relationships and understand their perspective and find common ground. >> welcome to everybody watching at home and we know that c-span covers us as well. >> one can only hope that he is able to watch c-span on a black and white television set in his prison cell. >> this is being carried live by c-span and is being watched not only in this country, but it is being watched around the world right now. >> i happen to listen to him. he was on c-span1, that was a big upgrade, all right? . welcome to today's "washington journal." happy new year, everybody. january, the big news then was the second inauguration of donald trump. here's a portion of his speech. >> the age of america begins now.

[video clip] from this day forward, our country will flourish and be respected again, all over the world. we will be the envy of every nation and we will not allow ourselves to be taken advantage of any longer. during every single day of the trump administration, i will very simply put america first. our sovereignty will be reclaimed. our safety will be restored. the scales of justice will be rebalanced. the vicious, violent, and unfair weaponization of the justice department in our government will end. host: that was january 20 of

this year. then in february, the doge cuts started happening. the department of government efficiency, though it was not a department. here's cory booker of new jersey talking about that at a rally. [video clip] >> in the u.s. senate, we will not cooperate. [applause] we are joining the leadership, joining the leadership already stated by ryan shots of hawaii, we will cooperate with no appointments when it comes to the state department. no appointments when it comes to foreign policy. the first thing we are going to do in the senate is not cooperate with the illegal and unconstitutional acts that they

are trying to do. the second thing we are going to do, we met this morning and it's in the legal prospectus. the second thing we are going to do is fight this illegally in every way that we can. we will fight their violation of civil service laws. we will fight their violation of civil rights laws. we will fight their violations of separations of powers. we will fight their violations of our constitution under the united states of america. we will not shut up. we will stand up. we will speak up. we will rise up. it is time, as the african spiritual says, for us to lift

every voice and condemnation of what's going on. host: that was in february of this year and we are asking you for your top news story. silver spring, maryland, democratic line, you're up first. caller: that's exactly what i was going to say. there is a crime syndicate applet -- operating out of the white house, all criminal, led by a criminal, and it's amazing that the american people are so good that they are standing up. millions and millions have been out on the streets this year demonstrating against this assault on the constitution and on the united states of america. i am so proud of americans. this is just the beginning. host: mike, ohio, line for republicans, good morning. caller: yes. i think article two, section four is being overlooked when it comes to the bribery issue.

also, the pardoning of that cocaine leader there in central america. and then on the other hand, bombing these little boats, it's kind of like a disney production wrapped around the twilight zone. there's no logic, there's no reason, and there is a poor explanation. article two, section four is probably the most important thing that should be in question at this point in time. i appreciate it. thank you. host: erin, south hill, virginia, line for democrats, good morning. caller: i'm concerned about the bombings in nigeria and venezuela. our president is doing things not sanctioned by congress. he has no right to be bombing people. he said they are killing christians? that's not true. they are killing people of all

religions. muslim, christian, whatever your faith. he said that these terrorists are killing christians. that's not true. our president is overstepping his hand and he is out of control. he needs to be impeached and stopped. congress needs to speak up. all the republicans supporting trump need to be held accountable along with this president. this regime that we have in america is dragging us into wars that we shouldn't be involved in . there's no expo nation for it. he's not seeking support from congress or any of his administration on this. it's a shame what's happening to america. host: the strikes on venezuela, the latest news on that is that the cia carried out a drone strike on a port facility on the venezuelan coast, marking the first known u.s. attack on a

target inside that country. that was erin, calling about that. there is also this that happened in february. so, if you recall, the president of ukraine, zelinski, was in the oval office. there was that meeting and here's what happened. [video clip] >> with a new president. i signed with him, the deal. i signed with him, macron, merkel, signed a cease-fire. cease fire. all of them told me that he will never go. we signed him. guest country, guest country, yes, but after that he broke the cease-fire, killed our people, and did not exchange prisoners. we signed the exchange of prisoners, but he didn't do it. what kind of diplomacy you are speaking about? what do you mean?

>> the diplomacy that will end the depth -- destruction of your country. mr. president, with respect it is disrespectful for you to come into the oval office and litigate this in front of the media. right now you are going around and forcing conscripts to the front line because you have manpower problems. you should be -- thanking the president. >> you have been to ukraine and seen the problems we have? >> i've actually watched. i've seen the stories. i know what happens. you bring people on a propaganda tour. do you disagree that you have had problems bringing people into your military? at >> we have problems. >> is it respectful to come to the oval office of the united states of america and attacked the administration trying to prevent the destruction of your country? >> a lot of questions. let's start at the beginning. first of all, during a war, everyone has problems. even you. you have a nice ocean and you don't feel it now, but you will

feel it in the future. >> you don't know that. you don't know that. >> god bless that you are not at war. >> don't tell us what we are going to feel. we are trying to solve a problem. you are in no position to dictate that. remember that. you are in no position to dictate what we are going to feel. we are going to feel very good. we are going to feel very good. very strong. >> you will feel the influence. >> you are not in a good position. you are in a bad position. >> from the very beginning of the war -- >> you don't have the cards right now. with us, you have cards. >> we are not playing cards. we are serious. >> you are gambling with the lives of millions. you are gambling with world war iii. you are gambling with world war iii. what you are doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country. >> i have total respect. >> far more than people said you

should have. >> have you said thankful -- thank you once in this entire meeting? you went to pennsylvania and campaigned for the opposition in october for some words of appreciation for the united states of america and a president who is trying to save your country. >> please, you think that if you speak loudly about the war -- >> he's not speaking loudly. your country is in big trouble. no, you have done a lot of talking. your country is in big trouble. >> i know. >> you are not winning this. >> you have a damp good chance of coming out ok because of us. >> in our country we have stayed strong from the beginning of the war. we have been alone. i have been thankful. i said thanks you to this cabinet. >> we gave that stupid president 350 billion dollars. we gave you military equipment. your men are brave, but they had to use our military. if you didn't have our military

equipment. >> you invited me to speak -- >> if you didn't have our military equipment, this war would've been over. >> that was february of this year. in the oval office there was another meeting between trump and zelinski and we will show you a clip of that that happened in mar-a-lago just this past week. lester, tuscaloosa, alabama. you are on the air, lester. >> good morning, how are you? host: good, happy new year. caller: same to you. mimi, as i'm looking at the tv, i see trump and zelinski having this conversation. since trump came into office, the only thing he ever done is create chaos in america. as we speak today, america is on the downcline under trump. trump hasn't done anything to help his -- this country.

it's all about his dictator buddy friends that he brings to the white house or mar-a-lago. as the president, he needs to go and find him some class. the man don't have any class whatsoever. to anyone who supports trump right now? i hope that when you pay your taxes, you find out he didn't get you one dime. he do not have anything to do with gas prices. that's all the republicans talk about. try to buy a can of coffee and find out how much you pay for that. mimi, have a happy new year. host: you as well, lester. at republican line, california, patrick, you are on the air. caller: happy new year. host: happy new year to you. caller: i think that the best one was when they stopped the conflict over in israel [indiscernible]

host: you are talking about the peace deal between israel and hamas? caller: yes, i am. i'm sorry. yeah, the peace deal. i've been, that was -- and right now he's trying to stop the conflict between russia and ukraine. host: yes. caller: he is going to go down as one of the greatest presidents ever that we have ever had. host: all right, patrick. here's russell on the line for democrats. good morning. caller: good morning, america. happy new year. very quickly, i wanted to talk about the fraud in minnesota. you know, that is not on the news enough. i think that if you are stealing money from taxpayers like myself, then you should be

kicked out of the country. i see it here in santa fe, california in the vietnamese community. in the hispanic community. they are sending their money back to these other countries and our veterans are being treated like dirt and it just isn't fair. so, you know, i think the law is the law is the law. if you come here and don't want to assimilate to our laws, you want to get caught stealing from our country, taking money out of my pocket? i'm a black man. i don't want to hear the race card. i worked hard to pay for my house all my life. i live in the most expensive place in the united states. santa fe, california. i want people to wake up. stop saying i'm democrat, republican, independent. how about us taking care of our people here in this country instead of everybody else that comes from different countries

that don't even want to speak our language. come on, america. that's all i got to say. host: here's the latest on that story of the minnesota fraud case. actually, let me get that for you after i take this call from brian in midland, michigan, independent. good morning. caller: morning. hey, back when they were talking about snap benefits, it affects me immediately, because i receive snap. that also affected millions of americans. one month, we didn't get our benefits for one month entirely. that affected a lot of people. and their immediate ability to get food. a lot of us are very low income. it was a hard time. host: how are you doing now,

brian? caller: yeah, i'm receiving my benefits. i got the december benefits. the only month that i missed was november. host: how did you manage in november, what did you do? caller: well, i thankfully had extra built-up by my, on my card that i get from the state. host: all right. the previous caller mentioned the fraud case in minnesota. this is foxnews.com with the headline "hhs," the department of housing and human services, "freezes minnesota child care payments over a legend they care fraud scheme." it says that the agency said yesterday that they would be freezing all federal

childcare payments to minnesota. here's a quote from the deputy secretary on x, "you have probably read the serious allegations that the state of minnesota has funneled millions of taxpayer dollars to fraudulent daycare's across minnesota over the past decade." he said that in a video message. that is up at fox news, if you would like to learn more. a caller mentioned the peace deal between israel and hamas. here's the president in september announcing [video clip] that. [video clip] -- announcing that. [video clip] >> if accepted, it calls for the release of all the remaining hostages immediately but in no case more than 72 hours. so, the hostages are coming back. i hate even saying this from the standpoint, doesn't sound right, but it is so important to the parents, the bodies of the young men, in almost all cases, young

men, they are coming back immediately. i met with parents. parents who felt strongly about getting their body, the body of their dead boy back, as though the boy were alive and well. it is so important to them. and it means the immediate end to the war itself. not just gaza. the war itself. under the plan, arab and muslim countries have committed, in writing in many cases, but i would take their word for it, the people i mentioned, i would take their word for it, to demilitarized gaza. that's quickly. decommission the military capabilities of hamas and all other terror organizations. do that immediately. and we are relying on the countries i named, and others,

to deal with hamas. i am hearing that hamas wants to get this done as well, and that's a good thing. destroying all terror infrastructure, including the tunnels and weapons of production facilities. there is a lot of production facilities that were destroyed that will also help to train the local police forces in the areas that we are discussing right now. particularly in and around gaza, working with the new transitional authority in gaza all parties will agree on a timeline for israeli forces to withdraw. in phases. they will be withdrawing in phases. no more shooting, hopefully. as progress is made, arab and muslim nations need to be allowed the chance of fulfilling these commitments in terms of dealing with hamas. they have to deal with them because they were the one group that we have not dealt with.

i haven't dealt with them. but the arab countries are going to, and muslim countries, are going to be dealing with hamas. i believe that they have already been there. i think they have an understanding. i don't think they've mentioned that, but i think they do, otherwise they would not have gone as far as they have gone. guest: host: -- host: that was in september. susan on facebook said that this was her biggest story of the year, the assassination of charlie kirk. that's on facebook. also here on facebook is jim, who says nick surely doing the job of the media once did, the true story not being the fraud in minnesota but it is the media failing to investigate the somalian corruption and the incompetence of the government in monitoring how the money of the people is spent. just so you know who nick

shirley is, this is "the hill." nick shirley is a youtuber who made a viral minnesota fraud video. he became a viral sensation overnight after posting a 42 minute video documenting his hunt for fraudulent childcare programs in minnesota with a video that has been viewed 100 million times on x. it shows him visiting daycare care centers receiving public funds. he's 23 years old. he alleged that multiple local centers were not providing services to any children, bombarding employees with questions about their whereabouts on camera outside each location. here is fernando in galveston, texas, republican line, good morning. caller: good morning, mimi. host: go ahead, fernando. caller: am i on? host: yes, go ahead. caller: first of all, happy new

year. host: happy new year to you. caller: as far as the fraud, it won't be the last one for sure. in terms of getting prosecuted for what was done, this is going to be different. no one's been prosecuted yet lately. host: actually, there have already been a lot of people charged with fraud and it happened during the last administration. caller: i see what you're talking about. yeah. well, i wish you a happy new year and i hope that everything turns out better for us in the coming year. host: all right, fernando. ed, new jersey, independent line, good morning. caller: to me the biggest news story of 25 is the war of ukraine -- the war in ukraine

and the war in gaza. i think that for a lot of people in the world it's also the biggest story. i think that for a lot of people in europe, that's the biggest story. i think that europe is gearing up to become more involved in the war. look at the increased expenditures from a lot of countries in europe, now spending more money in getting ready for war in bigger europe. this thing could really blow up. i would also like to thank you for letting us hear the exchange from the white house between trump and zelinski and vance. it shows the lack of civility that exists in the white house. i don't like zelinski, but i was sympathetic towards the guy. he was trying to make his point and he kept being -- he was interrupting also, but here's this guy, zelinski, who doesn't really speak good english, combating those two politicians.

i would like to shout out to people, we have got to spend more time looking at ukraine. this thing could get a whole lot worse. thank you. host: what do you think will happen in ukraine in 2026, looking ahead? caller: these negotiations to be going on forever. zelinski doesn't want to give up territory. trump says he wants territories, that land. it is kind of a stalemate. in the meantime, you've got europe increasing defense expenditures, they are getting ready for world war. they are in for a penny, in for a pound as they come forth into ukraine, anywhere from 180 -- 100 million to 180 million dollars. they want to get that investment back. soviet, russia, rather, they've got tremendous resources.

europe, i think it, is going after those resources. that's the reason for this war, the expansion of nato. the united states is one of the prime movers for this war. same thing in gaza. host: all right, ed. for the sake of completion, this is a part of the news conference that was held on sunday at mar-a-lago after the ukrainian president and american president met. [video clip] >> what number are we at in terms of guarantees? >> look, you could say 95%, but i don't like percentages. we could be doing well, we could be very close. there are one or two thorny and tough issues, but we are doing well and made a lot of progress and we made that progress over the last month. this is not a one-day process. it's very complicated stuff. when the president says 95, could be close to 95.

behind you? >> did you agree on the so-called free trade zone in the don boss? how to separate the sides, how to make the line, who will be responsible? >> the word agreed is too strong. i would not say agreed. but we are getting closer and it is certainly one of the big issues. i think we are closer than -- i think it's unresolved, but it is getting a lot closer. that's a very tough issue. but one that i think will get resolved. yes? >> there are mixed signals coming from moscow, even after speaking with vladimir putin. have you received a written or formal response? >> what was the issue? you have to tell me what they said. >> saying that ukraine has to give up don boss. >> that's what they have been asking for. there is a dispute about that. they will have to iron that out.

that is an issue they have to iron out. it's, but i think it's moving in the right direction. host: larry, georgia, democrat, your top news story of 2025? caller: i'm speaking about the affordable care act. i think that $40 billion that trump sent to argentina, he could have taken that and tried to work something out with the people here that really need that health care. i mean, why are you sending $40 billion to another country when your country needs help? host: all right. here's one from massachusetts, independent line. good morning. caller: good morning, happy new year. the people who are going against what this administration is doing is un-american, i'm an

immigrant from columbia and i have been in the army. i've served the country. i've seen what they do there to keep the little girls, 9, 10, 11 , they take them with them, take them into the jungle and they start killing soldiers, families, police, everyone. the cartels, they have no mercy. they want to put that in america. they want to bring it anywhere. now the democrats are defending venezuela and are saying -- no, when you come to the country, to america, i'm from columbia, but when you come to america, you have got to follow the rules. got to go by the law. if you come to america, you can't go against america. that's what's happening now. if you don't like it? they run away from those countries to come here. now they want the people to

leave? according to them, they run away. now they complain because they take the money? take that american money? these taxpayers, it's not right. the people who defend that, to me that's not right. host: so, you support the presidential actions in venezuela? caller: of course, of course. host: would you support american military action in columbia as well? caller: yes, let me explain why. we have no one else who can defend these countries. this is what's going on. let me -- this is what's going on. these people, it's not only the drugs. they are spreading their colonies. it's full of venezuelan people. they come and they play innocent

. same thing in cuba. host: what would you think that the american military could accomplish in columbia? caller: they need to get in. host: didn't do what, though? what would you want them to do? caller: in columbia, there are many groups. in the territories, i know, i work by myself out there. there's a lot of laboratories in the jungle. a lot. i'm talking tons and tons of cocaine is produced every day and it crosses the line to venezuela and spreads all over the world. they cross the ocean, they go to spain, and from spain they go all over europe. then those effects that they

have, it's supposed to be with oil. you have cocaine everywhere and they bring it all over the world . venezuela, those who support the cartels in mexico, the delivery people, can -- columbia produces it. venezuela spreads it all over the world. the people say please, venezuela? they do a nice job. they don't want to blow off people. they want to put pressure to release. the venezuelan army is the one. in the cartel. host: we have to move on. here is kyle in buffalo, new york. good morning. caller: well, good morning. i was going to talk about ukraine and russia, confused as to why it's been going on so long. remember, russia invaded ukraine like five years ago. i can't believe we are still having this situation. host: 22, almost four years ago. caller: ok, yeah.

but to my brother from columbia, they've been shipping those drugs in from the early 80's. they used to do it by plane, ships. so, i don't know what we can do. i guess we should have done something 45 years ago. in the 80's, we had the biggest drug problem in american history . still, obviously an important issue. military, government, i don't know the answer. but apparently columbia is still in the region and they are still producing drugs. yeah, i feel bad for the poor president of ukraine, like the gentleman said earlier about how he was treated in the white house. poor guy, didn't even -- he was talking about playing cards, he didn't understand the terminology. other things. we've got to just pray for the region. obviously, there is no incentive for the president to deal with russia fairly. he's been doing what he's been

doing. that's about it, c-span. thank you, happy new year. host: happy new year to you. caroline, independent line. you are on the air. caller: i'm calling in because too often we have people, especially people of color, calling into do that put down and being very negative because the show host will not do the talkback. but they bring people into do the negative talk. it influences them to come into the show. especially those pm shows on these different networks, like cnn. they bring those people into do their talking. it's just a divider. we the people decide, not the president. i did hear about one caller who called in and said that trump hadn't done a thing and that all they need to do is look at the

border. the border is a lot better. that's one thing. taxes are another thing. they will look and they will dig and see what the president has done and wouldn't be talking so negative about him. a lot of my people are talking about how they agree with a lot of things that -- and a lot of the things that the president has done. we need to take a look so that we know how to speak on it. but a lot of this negative talk that the show hosts allow people to do, they need to stop it. they bring them in to influence division in this country. host: caroline mentioned the border. this is mike on facebook, who says that the enforcement of the southern border and the mass deportation of illegal immigrants is the biggest story of 2025. here is the department of homeland security, they put this

out on dhs.gov. there's a story here of accomplishments where they talked about securing the southern border to historic levels, citing these statistics. border crossings year over year plunging 93%. there have been 53% less in the monthly average in terms of apprehensions on the southwest border. they talked about 37 billion from the big beautiful bill act. it will be used to finish the border wall. they said zero is the parole releases by cbp for seven months. you can take a look at those statistics, that's dhs.gov. kenny kirkpatrick says this on facebook -- finally, a closed border. that is his biggest news story. sarah says that the epstein files are the biggest news story

of 2025. kevin and washington, d.c., line for democrats. good morning. caller: good morning. you had dr. redfield on. he said that [indiscernible] it is the biggest threat to humanity. host: the what? say it again? caller: gain of function research. please don't cut me off. ask me a question like you did the guy talking about columbia. dr. redfield said the gain of function on bird flu, like they did on sars, to create a covid, it could be a bigger disaster, like 1000 times worse than covid.

he's given another talk at brookings, january 20, along with those scientists, elena cheung, who people tried to get fired from her job at harvard and columbia institutes, they wanted to censor her. dr. redfield said that the bird flu gain of function would be a man-made disaster worse than any war or climate change, or covid. i appreciate your interview with him, but you cut him off when he mentioned covid at the beginning of the "washington journal" talk. you gave a good interview, but they cut it at the end. he didn't really get a chance to talk about covid.

host: appreciate that, kevin. that's on our website, if you want to go back and watch any of our "washington journal" segments that we have had. speaking a public health, this is from the front page of "the washington post" today. kennedy and one year with a speed and scope that alarms the medical industry and insider interviews shedding light on his vision for change, that is at "the washington post" this morning, if you want to read that they're in your year on review in the health department and the impact on health. larry, chicago, illinois, good morning. caller: good morning. i haven't called since the national day of prayer in may. we are still a house divided. so, here is my prayer. with a humble heart, we beseech the lord for thy salvation that we may walk in your path and

keep your judgments. god bless c-span. bye. host: ray, ithaca, new york, republican line. what's your top story? caller: the great job that the president has done on illegal immigration. from the southern border to the people self-supporting and the i.c.e. raids for sanctuary cities. we are finally getting this done. president biden kept saying that nothing could be done unless congress passes something. we knew that wasn't true. what trump has been able to do on this, i never would have thought it was possible. i give him every kudo in the world. host: all right, ray. jim, kentucky, democratic line, good morning. caller: good morning. [feedback] host: you gotta lower the volume

on your tv, jim, we caller: caller: can hear it. sorry. host: that's ok. caller: i wanted to say that the way the president did this first year has been an excellent job. i think that the top story is the way that he did the border and got these illegals out of the country. i think that we should all make a new year's resolution that we are one nation under god. let china and russia and these other countries know that we are united and fully behind our president. can i say one more thing? host: yes, go ahead. caller: would you put that lady on there, that black lady that does the job? that's against these other ladies. i tell you, that's one pretty lady. host: [chuckles] going back to march, now, if you

recall, that was signal-gate. a journalist accidentally put on a signal chat, not encrypted, and they were talking about, they were discussing the plans on the attack on yemen, the american attack on him and at that time. so, here is defense secretary pete hegseth addressing that. he was in hawaii. [video clip] >> did you see how your war plans were shared with a journalist in the atlantic and were those details classified? >> so, you are talking about a deceitful and highly discredited so-called journalist who has made a profession of peddling hoaxes time and again to include the hoaxes of russia, russia, russia, or the fine people on both sides hoax.

the suckers and losers hoax. this guy petals and garbage. it's what he does. i would love to comment on the who the campaign because of the skill and courage of our troops. i have monitored it closely from the beginning. you see, we have been managing four years of deferred maintenance under the trump administration. our troops and sailors were being shot at as targets. troops couldn't sail through. when they shot back, it was defensively at a shack in yemen. trump said no more. we will open freedom of navigation, reestablish deterrence, and ultimately decimate the houthis. >> why were those details shared on signal and how did you learn a journalist was privy to the targets? >> i've heard it characterized. nobody was texting war plans. that's all i have to say about

it. host: the journalist that he was referring to was jeffrey goldberg of "the atlantic." here is the headline from that article. "trump administration accidentally texted me war plans and national security leaders including me in a group chat. i didn't think it could be real, but then the bombs started falling." you can read that at the atlantic, if you are interested. katrina, good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i think my biggest story is the failure of this government, the failure of our government, the failure of putting adequate and intelligent individuals in positions where those individuals have the qualification to run those divisions. does this president look at the government as a joke. you can tell by the people that he appoints to different parts

of the government to oversee different departments and they have no clue, no background in the departments they oversee. that should tell you how seriously he takes our security and of the security of the people. host: are there individuals that you are concerned about? caller: yes. rfk. the one over in education. i could go on and on. the one over housing. they don't have any qualifications to run those apartments, ok? this is a disgrace and it is actually a slap in the face of the people. on top of that, these people calling in about minnesota fraud ? we have a fraudster in office. he is defrauding the people every day. he is laundering money for his family.

they've been doing it each administration. when he came in the first time i thought we would learn not to put this con man back into office. it's ridiculous. he cares nothing about the people. understand it. he would rather let people starve, let kids go without, let the elderly go without, let veterans go without. there is nothing he has done, ok? he has not fixed any wars. he has these so-called plans to stop the war in gaza and over there in -- that didn't hold up. they are still bombing those people. and they had the nerve to bring that man back to the white house again? he literally cares nothing about the american people. all he cares about is the money he can make for his family and that is it. host: katrina mentioned rfk jr.. this is from the month of may and it is senator chris murphy,

connecticut, democrat, questioning rfk jr. about his views on vaccines and the measles vaccine. [video clip] >> this morning in front of the house of representatives you said that you would not recommend kids get vaccinated for measles. you said you would lay out the pros and cons. this is the summation of everything you have said, to compromise people's faith in the measles vaccine in particular. it's contrary to what you said before this committee. do you said you support the measles vaccine. then you laid out a series of contested facts. the result is to undermine faith in the vaccine. it's like saying -- listen, i think you should swim in that lake, but you know the lake is probably toxic with a ton of snakes and alligators, but you should swim in it. nobody's going to swim in it, if

that's what you are saying. i want you to acknowledge that when you say you support the measles vaccine and then go out and repeatedly undermined that vaccine with information contested by public health experts, that's not supporting the vaccine. i guess i have two simple questions for you. one, can you clarify what you said in the house this morning? are you or are you not recommending that families get their children vaccinated? or are you just giving people pros and cons? and do you understand that when you say these things about the measles vaccine, what ends up happening is less people get the vaccine. that may be what you want, but do you understand the result of constantly questioning the efficacy and safety of the vaccine results in less people getting it? i don't necessarily want to spend the remaining 20 seconds in an argument over the science, but do you understand that that is the consequence of what you are saying and are you still recommending that people get the vaccine, or are you not?

caller: if i advise you to swim in a lake in which there were alligators, wouldn't you want me to tell you? host: are you recommending the measles vaccine or not? -- >> are you recommending the measles vaccine or not? >> are you going to let me answer? are you going to let me answer? what i pledged before this committee during my confirmation is that i would tell the truth and have radical transparency. i'm going to tell the truth about everything that we know and don't know about vaccines. i'm not just going to tell people that everything is safe and effective if i know that there are issues. i need to respect the intelligence of the people. >> i think you are answering the question and it's dangerous for the american public. >>'s faith in the program is because they have been lied to by public officials year after year. >> no longer recommending the measles vaccine. >> senator marshall? >> i set it at the hearing this

morning that i recommended the measles vaccine. go look at the transcript. host: we are taking your top news story of 2020 five. the lines are on your screen. republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. bob, kingwood, texas, republican line, good morning. caller: good morning. i think that these stories that haven't been discussed were pretty important for this year. first, the bombing of iran. trump was bold enough to take out the iranian nuclear problem that had been plaguing us well since obama, when we gave cash. it perpetuated on through the first trump administration and on through biden. you haven't heard much from iran

. they were the ones funding hamas, funding all the wars. we made them quiet. in fact, their regime is in a lot of trouble now. i think that the president did a good job to do that. the democrats really oppose him on that. the other thing was the shutdown of congress. nobody has talked about that. the democrats shut down our government and claimed the republicans that it. they were the ones that refused to vote to open the government. host: when you said the shutdown of congress, what did you think of the house not being in session as long as the federal government was shut down? did you agree with speaker johnson's decision to keep the republicans at home and not in session? caller: they could have come to work, obviously. but what would they do? they would sit there and argue and do their things, whatever

they were going to do. but the official shutdown was the responsibility of the democrats who voted to allow the government to open up and they refused to do it until, finally, eight democrats, most of them retiring or getting out, because they would have had trouble with their party, allowed it to open up, and i'll look at the mess we are in. we had little time to try to reconcile the health care situation that they wanted to have their shut over. where are we? the health care isn't going to happen. the health care administration repair isn't going to happen. host: this is debit on facebook. she says "there is no denying that this year had highs and lows. after cutting snap and medicaid, donald trump is sending millions into the new year without health care, a home they can afford, or

food on the table. he has wrecked havoc on our institutions, democracies, and fundamental rights in exactly the way that happens when folks fight back. this past november trump was dealt major losses and critical races in virginia, new york, and new jersey." bob mentioned iran. i wanted to show you this. this is from yesterday's cbs news, "iran bows harsh response to any attack as trump said he would "knock the hell" out of them if nuclear work resumes. the iranian president said yesterday that he promised a harsh response to any attack in response to a warning from the previous day by trump over the attempts by iran to rebuild their nuclear program." on a social media posted says "answering this would be harsh and discouraging."

"it came one day after the response from trump suggesting that the u.s. could carry out new military strikes if iran attempts to reconstitute their nuclear program." he made those comments during wide-ranging talks with netanyahu at mar-a-lago in florida." rush, pittsburgh, independent line. caller: good morning, mimi. i got you again? [laughter] i always say that to you. i only call once a month. but all of the last callers, they think everything is big, but to me the epstein stuff is the biggest. because when it first started, trump says -- we are still talking about this? then he's like that's a democratic hoax.

then he lies. i voted for him three times, but then he said he might have been on a plane once or twice? he's on their eight times. at any rate, he's pretty corrupt. now, you can get into a thing that i call the tail wagging the dog. so, when you are caught up in that kind of stuff, and it isn't only him, trust me, it's a bunch of them, that's probably why they aren't doing anything about it. you know, you can start all kinds of crap, like wars. he says he's supposed to be this peaceful president, but heck, he bombed somalia and nigeria on christmas day. you know? even world war i, world war ii, vietnam, even with putin, they didn't do anything like that, they shut it down for christmas day. host: when you say you voted for

president trump three times, what made you disillusioned with him? the epstein files? caller: no, no. that just became, you know, recent, the epstein thing. i didn't realize that, 24 here. 2016? i fell for it. i thought he was going to do something. i think he did do a few things there, from 16 to 20. then in 20 to 24, he lost that election. but from here on out? and i agree with the young lady on the cabinet. i loved all these cap nitpicks. the only one i might hold any love for anymore is tulsi gabbard. there's another problem. marco rubio, senator,

experienced, he has something to do with this venezuela thing. he wants cuba, too. the drug thing, i'm 74 years old. we never got drugs from venezuela. we smoke a lot of pot back in the day. jamaican, hawaiian, venezuelan maybe? i guess there might be a war down there. i don't like war. he was supposed to be a peaceful president. he goes into a ron. another time? that's persia. we are dealing with persia here. we will be 250 years old next july 4. iran has been around a long time . china has been around a long time. russia has been a long -- around a long time. host: since you mentioned the

epstein files, let's take a look at thomas massie speaking on that issue in september. [video clip] >> i hope my colleagues are watching this. i want them to think -- but if this was your sister or your daughter. when these women speak, the washington establishment is asking the american public to believe something not believable. they are asking you to believe that two the visuals created hundreds of victims and acted alone and that the doj has no idea on who else might have been involved. that nobody else did anything that rose to a criminal enterprise. the american people know that's not true. now, the speaker of the house just offered a fig leaf to my colleagues, a vote on a nonbinding resolution today that does absolutely nothing. i appreciate the efforts of my colleague, james gomer, leading the oversight committee.

they may find some information. but they are allowing the doj to curate all the information that the doj is giving them. if you have looked at the pages they have released so far, they are heavily redacted. some pages are entirely redacted. 97% of this is already in the public domain. so, i am calling on my colleagues to be one of the next two who sponsors this discharge petition. it is shameful that this has been called a hoax. hopefully, today we can clear that up. this is not a hoax, it's real. there are real survivors and real victims to this criminal enterprise. the perpetrators are being protected because they are rich, powerful, and political donors to the establishment here in washington, d.c. host: that was in september of this year. here's good morning, thank you,

and happy new year. this answer encompasses a whole range of things that have not been done by the supreme court, which is controlled by republicans and by the congress. controlled by republicans to honor the intent of our constitution, to have checks and balances among competing branches. to ensure that no one branch brings tyranny to america. without this competition we are a to radical monarchy, and that is what they are creating. by letting trump run rampant in so many areas and not checking his power. it seems to me this is a deliberate attempt to raise a single party to the role of a monarchical force in the country. and in the onset of the administration this year, when they first named their cabinet

nominees, they were called the rtv program on december 4 of last year, praising those choices as being capable, if they were all confirmed, of dismantling america from within, brick by brick. that is something that pleased trump's media and apparently that is something that trump agreed to. for all we know trump agreed to the cabinet nominees recommended by putin for that reason, just the way he agreed to a peace panel and for ukraine virtually verbatim. this combination of loyalty to a foreign force and disloyalty of the courts and congress to the principles of checks and balances is a prescription for tyranny. if the people don't continue to push back and demand that all of the branches of government act first on behalf of their branch, and then if ever for their

party. because we cannot have a one-party dictatorship in this country. host: ok. alan is in new york and i wanted to make sure you saw that zohran mamdani will be sworn in tonight just after midnight. here is nbc news. mamdani to be sworn in as new york city mayor by senator bernie sanders and attorney general letitia james. he will be sworn in at midnight when his term begins and sanders will oversee the ceremonial swearing in later that day. here is rick, columbus ohio -- columbus, ohio. caller: yes. talking about the fraud in the somalian community, what was his name, shirley? these have him come to columbus

ohio, because write down the street from me is one of the biggest churches we have had it is on cleveland avenue and he rode. the somalians has taken it over. now, how can you come from a third world country where you don't even have toilet paper and then you come to our country and you buy a church that is one of the biggest churches in our community? i want to know how that works and tell me there ain't no fraud. i know there are some on the food stamps, because i see it every day with my own eyes. so, you can tell me i ain't seeing it, and i know people that is doing at that are americans to try to survive. now, what is the solution to this problem? i was sitting in a bar in the 1980's and the bartender come up and told me i was not allowed to smoke a cigarette no more.

l, the democrats were in power and that is when they started. all of this craft that they have got going on because they want to control us and they say donald trump wants to be a dictator? they better look at obama. that was the wordless president we ever had. i used to have a sign in my yard that said, obama. host: mike in illinois, independent line. good morning, mike read -- mike. caller: happy new year. the two top stories under this dark cloud. it feels like the x-ray at your dentists office. the first c-span top story was to time winners studentcam, incredible. wondering if can burns heard the

noise yet? another one is tammy's incredible interview in front of the supreme court and the national mall. how did she not get the cease fire role? incredible interviews. every time she is out. she should have got that spot. my two top stories under the black cloud. trump's tariffs. number one, we planted crops. trump has put tariffs on the farmers. china moaned by the crops. now they can buy the farm. now fda passes new laws saying for new farmers they get low interest tax breaks. talking about replacement. the other problem is is asking corporations to not pass them on. he is stabilizing them like farms at the same time saying, i have saudi money to buy you out.

we have trillions of dollars to buy you out. that is kind of weird. the senate passes a law, the chips act, which is unconstitutional. he used that money to buy corporations and we don't know exactly what is going on with that. they are investing into rare-earth minerals in other countries. where are these rare earth minerals and one other countries we have to protect now? a lot of great areas under this cloud, it is an investment we are wearing. host: mike did mention tariffs. this is april 2, where president trump announced liberation day, where he is announcing his reciprocal tariffs. take a look. pres. trump: my fellow americans, this is liberation day.

waiting for a long time. [applause] april 2, 2020 five will forever be remembered as the day american industry was reborn. the day america's destiny was reclaimed and the day that we began to make america wealthy again. going to make it wealthy. good and wealthy. for decades our country has been looted, pillaged, raped, and plundered by friend info alike. american steelworkers, autoworkers, farmers, and skilled craftsmen, we have a lot of them with us here today. they really suffered gravely. he watched in anguish as foreign leaders have stolen our jobs. foreign cheaters have ransacked our factories and foreign scavengers have torn apart our once beautiful american dream. we had an american dream you don't hear so much about. you did four years ago and you are now, but too often for

decades you didn't hear too much about our country and its taxpayers have been ripped off for more than 50 years. but it is not going to happen anymore. it's not going to happen. [applause] in a few moments i will sign a historic executive order instituting reciprocal tariffs on countries throughout the world. reciprocal. that means they do it to us and we do it to them. there is simple. can't get any simpler than that. [applause] this is one of the most important days, in my opinion, in american history. it is our declaration of economic independence. for years hard-working american citizens were forced to sit on the sidelines as other nations got rich and powerful. much of it at our expense. but now it is our turn to

prosper and in so doing use trillions and trillions of dollars to reduce our taxes and pay down our national debt, and it will all happen very quickly. with today's action we are finally going to be able to make america great again. greater than ever before. [applause] jobs and factories will come roaring back into our country, and you see it happening already. we will supercharge our domestic industrial base. we will pry open foreign markets and bring down foreign trade barriers, and ultimately more production at home will mean stronger competition and lower prices for consumers. this will be, indeed, the golden age of america. it is coming back. and we are going to come back very strongly. host: that was in april, and here is what judy sent us from waynesburg, pennsylvania on text.

trump's warm drugs has included bombing venezuela and pardoning a major drug dealer, but not asking the people of this country not to buy illegal drugs. dan in tennessee, the line for democrats. you are on the air. caller: oh no, i have you again? [laughter] host: you are just lucky, dan. caller: i love my fellow callers, even when i don't agree with them. maybe it is one of the top news stories, when you have the billionaire boys club, the lutnick boys, the witkoff boys, the trump boys, the ellison boy -- and they don't have enough money, so the get -- they get saudi money and want to take over the american media with the sky dance, paramount, warner bros. deal? pretty soon, mimi, we are going to be wishing that mimi was back, because they are going to

yank pbs, c-span off the air, because you deliver bad news. see this shiny object there? we don't want you to see the bad news. we will do away with the bureau of labor statistics. we will do away with the federal trade commission. the consumer protection boards. we will do away with regulations, rules, policies. we don't need any of that. and when you show the clip of -- it made my skin crawl you showed the clip again of trump and vance bushwhacking zelenskyy in that meeting. it just makes my skin crawl. host: i just want to occur -- clarify something you said about lumping us with pbs. pbs does take government funding. c-span does not. you know that, right? caller: i know that, but it is just that they are trying to

take over the media, and we will not have any bad news, will we? everything will be rosy. host: here is gary in texas on the line for independence. -- independents. caller: i hope they keep you on and you are such an asset to the american people. i just want to say a couple of words. a name and a word. gustavo petro, the colombian president. if you listen to c-span, stop sending your citizens over here to commit mail fraud. you know how i know it? because i have married 23 years to a colombian. and she married me for green cards. you know how i found out? my nine-year-old son. he checked her whatsapp messages. they were planning green cards and fraudulent applications for 23 years.

i didn't know. he found out. this hurt my son. this hurt our marriage. thank god for president trump. i am a black american. i ordered a colombian. she came over illegally, she overstayed her visa, and she somehow got awarded a green card. host: because she married you? caller: and she married me, correct. donald trump is an asset to the american people and the american family. you know, i don't agree with everything he does, trust me. but he is a good president. sec. no, ice, they are doing us a great service. they are bringing jobs and cleaning up -- you know, the marriage situation. to me, marriage, fraud, 350,000 -- look it up on ai -- americans are affected every year by illegal marriages. i was telling you or phone lady,

90 day fiance. whoever hasn't watched that, if you are married to one of these people, they will do you in. families will never be dedicated to you as an american. host: gary, do you mind if i ask you what happened when you confronted your wife about those messages? caller: well, so, there is a big investigation going on right now. what happened was, initially about 12 years into our marriage my wife -- my son came to me and said my wife threatened to slap him in a whatsapp message. i said, i asked my wife, can i see your text? she said, yeah, go right ahead. she said, what are you looking for? i said, our son said you threatened to slap him. i want to know why you did that. then she wanted to take the

phone. when she tried to take the phone -- host: white, gary, i didn't hear. she threatened to do what to your nine-year-old son? caller: she threatened to slap him. when i try to read the messages she tried to take the phone and that she pulled a butcher knife out and threatened to -- i don't know if she was going to stab me or not, but this is what happened. 13 years later we got over it, moved on, and then my son found messages in whatsapp where she was planning to get visas with her brother in columbia, who is still there. they planned on getting visas. host: for the rest of her family? caller: for the rest of her family. it was in colombian, so i could not translated. as it was presented to me i was like, i will figure it out later on. i don't have time to deal with this.

now we know after we broke it down that they had planned this very sophisticated -- host: so, gary, you are going through a divorce right now? caller: yeah, we are going through a divorce. now my son doesn't know if she wanted to have him or not. obviously, i think not. host: well, we got your point, gary. raymond in new york, a republican. good morning. caller: thanks for having me and have a. i brought up this topic many times of term limits. i'm sorry. people being in office for decades and decades, year after year, the same people in office, i'm always wondering how come they can't, like, signed legislation, term limits for supreme court justices, congress, and senate? you can have the same people in office going after each other and this is just a power

struggle. we know that. i am a republican. i know if republicans lose the congress the democrats are going to go after trump. we know that. i voted for trump because i saw the united states under joe biden go into shambles, and for four years trump inherited, you know, a disaster. of policies, money, all kinds of things. my thing is i'm hoping one day they can get term limits in place. can have the same people in office year after year. i'm not going to keep repeating it, but that is my philosophy. thank you. host: all right, raymond. c-span put together a video to honor the people that were lost during the year 2025. some of the notable people. take a look and then when we come back we will go back to your calls.

♪ >> for the first time we said as moral citizens, we have to do what is right for our country. our country is not always right. >> nobody wants to be a failure, but i had failed in protecting the president. and i knew that. >> humor is the universal

solvent against the abrasive elements of life. ♪ >> the america i know is grounded in the determination found in patriots and pioneers. in small businesses with big ideas. >> with this same passion and compassion with which we want to be treated. >> the judiciary as an institution which is not a political institution. the whole point of it is not to be one.

>> what can we in the older generation do to make a better world for this country? before we leave the stage what can we accomplish? >> let [indiscernible] run wild, brother. >> we do have a problem in baseball and using steroids is not respecting the game. >> we were so curious, so excited about being at the moon

that we were like three schoolkids looking into a candy store. >> our current state of slow motion national decline is a choice. >> i see the community we can be and the strength we have and it makes me all the more passionate about joining our community and raising whatever i can do to help raise the voice to represent the people. ♪ >> everyone of us, not just the

young people, but all of us has their remember that each day we do make a difference. >> it is time for america's leaders to stop pointing the finger of lame and begin sharing the credit for some success. >> what i have discovered is that from activism and having a position on something to trying to get something done on an area, you cannot hold on too strict a position, because you find that the perfect is the

enemy of the good. ♪ >> the post encouraged me to be better, to do more, to find out things i had not known. it was and is my home. host: those are some of the notable people that were lost in 2025, but we are taking your calls throughout this program, up until the end of the program at 10:00 a.m. eastern, on your top news story of 2025. as you look back on the year what stood out for you? what do you think was the most impactful? it's here from lester in washington, d.c., democrat. good morning, lester. caller: good morning. what i want to say is a couple of things. number one, i think the top story of the day is the aca, and the affordable care act. and most people out there, you

know, most don't understand the affordable care act was never the solution to the health care crisis in america. it was only an opportunity to resolve and make people eligible for health care. 24 million americans. it was never a solution. the solution to the crisis in america is universal health care. but that sounds too much like socialism. second, a lot of people call in from different places talking about how great the economy is. how great the economy can be when you lay off thousands of americans? thousands of americans. you know, biden left the economy with 3% inflation. trump is a little over 3% now. as well as the fact that you have dozens of people seeking employment right now. how great is the economy? also too, you know, how serious

is the trump administration when it comes to the war against drugs when the trump administration pardoned the honduran president or honduran president who made it very clear he was, you know, that he was floating cocaine here in the united states check him how serious can mr. trump be talking about communal, stopping the drugs, you know? i mean, people call in and they seem to lack -- i don't know, maybe intelligence or an understanding of the drug war. you know, and last but not least, you know, we have not heard the last from iran. united states is a young country. iran has been around thousands of years. ok? thank you. host: just to clarify, you mentioned the inflation rate. that is at 2.7%. that is the latest number from the bureau of labor statistics. here is lisa, wake forest, north

carolina, independent line. you are on the air, lisa. >> hi, mimi. great topic to end the year off. the most important news stories for me this year are the attacks on americans, the attacks on our own people in the country. of course, the deportation of tens of thousands of immigrants. some of them not even immigrants. some of them are actually holding -- they are here legally. and i also have a personal attack on myself. about 30 years ago i had a sex change operation, and the

attacks on the trans people are bothering me. personally i don't care about the transgender athletes and all that kind of thing. but what i do care about is i don't feel safe going out in public. if i do go out in public i don't want to have it be for more than half an hour. i need to use a bathroom. we had a lieutenant general here in north carolina who said, let them go out and use the bushes. that is terrible. ok, but we are attacking good people. i'm a veteran. i'm a really great citizen. i have done a lot for this country.

i was here -- my family was here in america 200 years before the trump family. host: here is rory in california, a republican. good morning. caller: ok, my name is rory, and i think that ukraine is probably the silent big story these days. when they dropped their atomic bombs -- not literally -- but when they gave them up there were doomed to be invaded by russia. and i heard they don't want them to go to nato, however finland went to nato and from what i'm hearing they want to get tactical nuclear weapons so the russians don't go after them. the point is, it is not this government so much. what kept us out of nuclear war for 50 years was each side had a

bomb and it scared the other side into not using it. that is it. host: let's talk to caroline next in ohio, the line for republicans. good morning. caller: good morning. i just want to say -- i want to horse back off of one of the callers who called in. who wanted to marry him only for the green card. that was just a reminder that in the 1970's, 19 80's, and 1990's when a slew of african men had come to this country to marry the black american women only to get green cards, have kids, and create havoc in their lives. i just want to implore the president trump, to please not build anything over in gaza, because it -- because if you read in jeremiah in the king james version bible that land is

cursed. do not build anything over there or bad things will happen. in gaza, that is the modern-day jericho. and please don't put a brick or any mortar in that country. leave it alone. these people know that land is cursed, but they are skinning and grinning in president trump's face and they know it is a cursed piece of land. happy new years to everyone. host: dee in tennessee, the line for democrats. good morning. caller: yes, good morning. host: morning. caller: my feeling is, donald trump as president is playing from the putin playbook. is doing everything he can to separate american. donald trump, our president, downgrades another president to foreign nationals.

he talked bad about joe biden. joe biden is american. and he downgraded another president to another one. and not only that, putin is his main goal. he a dictator and he trying to turn america. he got our soldiers, our children, out there fighting us. not in a war, but he in america. host: here is roberto in houston, texas, an independent. good morning. caller: i'm so glad you are on. i want to give you an update. you know when you had adam on concerning independent movements, and i called in and i tried to call and you didn't return my call? i am an independent here in my district in houston and it is hard to do. it is really stacked against

independence. i have registered as an independent for the state, and they have all kinds of complications for independence. -- independents. perhaps have him back and do a follow-up, especially next year. november is so important. but i want to give you an update on that, and also i have to say this. to me the most important thing -- because it showed our moral failure as a country -- was gaza . genocide. there is no other way to put it. and these conservative christians, americans who think it is in the bible -- no, no, no. the u.n. created israel, not god. and israel has to be responsible by paying reparations to the u.n. to take care of gaza. because it is over 70,000 human beings, people. 70,000. and we are mourning the

australian jewish attack where 15 die? that is horrible, of course. paul ryan or died. one jewish man. that is horrible. 70,000? children and women? i'm getting very involved, and i'm glad you did the segment on the people who died this year, because the pope died in april. i didn't know what day. i'm trying to get with the catholic church, starting here in houston, to have a pope francis -- it probably will be declared a saint -- anyway, pope francis relief fund for palestinian children. host: all right, roberto, and thank you for your input on our programming. in new york, the line for democrats. you are on the air. caller: thank you for c-span. i want to say the young woman who took my call as a screener, she did a fabulous job, as do you and all of the hosts.

i really loved your retrospective of who we lost this year. i would have liked to have seen diane keaton included. if you do any updates that would be great if you could include her. also, i think the main story is the epstein files cover-up by trump and his powerful cronies known as the epstein class, and specifically how ghislaine maxwell was moved to a low security prison. if that is not a quid pro quo, i don't know what is. host: ann was in new york. couple of programming notes. we are going to be covering the new york new year's eve celebration tonight, happening in times square in new york city. there will also be video celebrating the 250th anniversary of the united states . that celebration kicks off at midnight. the ball drop at midnight will

include a patriotic salute to america's birthday. our coverage starts at 6:00 p.m. eastern time. you can watch that live on c-span. also tonight you can ring in the new year with a fireworks show in washington, d.c. on the national mall. a candle is going to be projected onto the washington monument in honor of america's 250th birthday. live coverage starting just before midnight on c-span two. both of those you can also watch online at c-span.org and our free local video app, c-span now. here is jeff in ohio, the republican line. good morning, jeff. caller: good morning, good morning. the top story for me and realization this year was how right and correct elon musk was about the fraud, waste, and abuse in our country. if everyone remembers going back 9, 10 months ago he was vilified

by members of the house of representatives and senators from the credit party. and got people to torch his dealerships, destroy his tesla's all over the country. and look how right he was about the fraud, with recent discovery in minnesota, now coming up here in columbus ohio and new york, and then the fraud in the state of california. it turns out he was right, and the democrats should listen to him and they should apologize. thank you. host: here is jim in cairo, missouri, a democrat. caller: good morning, mimi. some numbers you quoted earlier about inflation and unemployment, they were produced by a trump appointee. trump has demonstrated that his appointees do not give him good news, they are out of a job. i do not trust numbers out of this administration.

to change the subject, gaza. the cease-fire is not holding. he wants to move on to phase two of his 20-part plan. phase one never worked. i don't know what the man is talking about. host: would you say that was your biggest news story of the year, was the war in gaza? caller: that is the biggest embarrassment -- well, that and blowing up boats that were not coming to america for drugs. may i point out that venezuela does not have a pacific coast? if he is bombing boats in the pacific they are not from venezuela. host: all right, jim. let's talk to john in louisiana,

the independent line. caller: good morning. how are you doing? host: good. caller: i served for 30 years in the military and what i have seen this year is just the dismal performance of the secretary of defense. you know, who is supposed to be running our military? this guy is definitely not qualified to be in charge of anything. i fought in wars. i've seen him be disrespectful to generals and admirals, and everybody just retiring because of the incompetence of this guy. we have lost our credibility on the world stage. i have participated when i was stationed overseas with many of our foreign allies and different type scenarios. we have lost that respect, and what i see is, it's going to take decades for us to get that back. host: so, is there something specifically you have seen secretary hegseth do that makes you believe he is not qualified for the job?

caller: yes. the bombing of the boats coming out of -- supposedly coming out of venezuela, when they don't even have the capacity to reach our shores. and the fact that he passes over classified information. host: on the signal chat? caller: yes ma'am. i have served so many years in the military and i had top-secret security clearances, and they made it very clear, you know, about your responsibilities to secure top-secret information, and i joined the military when i was 17 years old and they taught us about our responsibilities if we are in war. if our soldiers in that position -- it allows our enemies to do the same thing to us and we can't say anything because we have lost the moral high ground. host: let's talk to hill grove

in johnstown, pennsylvania, a democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. i hear people talking about how bad the economy was under joe biden, and by the way mark zandi was on c-span this year and he said that the economy under joe biden was the best in 35 years. so, you can check that on your programs. the other thing is trump inherited a good economy both times when he was -- his first time from obama, and then he screwed that up, and then of course biden inherited his ridiculous economy and had -- and also with all the programs biden promoted in four years. certainly was a tribute to him. i think he will go down as one of the best presidents we ever had for a four-your president. i think the democrats will reuther day they don't let him run.

i think i would have voted for him if he came out in a wheelchair before i would have ever voted for trump. that is my comment for today. host: from earlier this month house minority leader criticizing congressional republicans for their handling of the economy. >> the house republicans have no issue as it relates to affordability. they believe the affordability crisis is a hoax and scam. that is what their leader has said, donald trump, who says he is the president and speaker at the same time. donald trump's words, not mine. they don't plan to address the high cost of living in this country because they don't even believe it exists. the interesting thing is that i agree that the american people will continue to feel the impact of the one big, ugly bill that republicans jammed down their throats. but it is going to be an adverse impact. because hospitals and nursing

homes and community-based health centers are going to continue to close as a result of republicans enacting the largest cuts in medicaid history. electricity bills are skyrocketing because of the republican attack on the clean energy economy, clean energy is cheaper energy, but they goaded those provisions of the tax code. republicans did, so they could reward big oil and their donors. but as a result the american people are seeing their electricity bills skyrocket. and then, of course, if you rip in hundred $86 billion from snap, which republicans did in their one big, ugly bill, they are going to cause everyday americans to go hungry. we are talking about 42 million people. 16 million children who are going to be hurt by what republicans did in their one big, ugly bill.

18 million older americans in over one million veterans who rely on snap. and so, the adverse impact, the harm that republicans have done to the american people actually, we are just scratching the surface. host: that is minority leader had hakeem jeffries from earlier this month. here is ron in california, line for republicans. caller: good morning, how are you? host: good. caller: i wanted to mention the three big broadcasters -- cbs, nbc, and abc. i just wanted to equate them to the three monkeys when they regard the democratic party. see no evil, speak no evil, and hear no evil. and that is pretty much what it looks like. and thank you for taking my call. host: this is kay in arnold, missouri. caller: happy new year. host: happy new year to you.

caller: there are so many news stories from this year it is hard to pick just one. but something that has not been brought up is the pardoning of the insurrectionists from january 6, 2020 one. i think that is noteworthy. first of all, it is a bit of business for anybody who has ever had dealings with the courts and suffer the consequences and no one pardoned them. i am a retired educator, but i do know people that have dealings with the court system. and the other thing is that it just sort of started off the tone for the year that we had a lawless administration in the white house. anyway, happy new year, and watch c-span. bye-bye. host: going in detroit, michigan.

-- gwyn in detroit, michigan. caller: thanks for taking my call. my biggest joy of 2025 is the supreme court, the gop supreme court and the cowardly republicans in congress, by not preventing a to radical presidential takeover, including trump's mag of. they act just like the supreme court, refusing to acknowledge his destruction of america's values and our historic achievements. these people who voted for trump have actually betrayed america, the trade immigrants. ukraine and gaza. by not condemning trump. that is my biggest story, that trump has actually taken office. that he was allowed to take office and allowed to continue his destruction. thank you, mimi, and happy new year to everyone. i hope 2026 will be a turnaround

in the democrats will win. host: jose in texas. what is your top new story of 2025? caller: putting donald trump in office. he is a con man and america is being scammed by him. he is making money. he is using his office to sell everything he can to make profit from it. he is a con man and we made a big mistake putting him in office. that is the number one topic of the year. thank you. host: let's talk to kathy in grand terrace, california. a democrat. good morning, kathy. caller: excuse me. good morning. the ability for him to be elected was a sham and should never have happened. we are where we are.

the bottom line is this. america needs to understand that this man should never have been elected and all of the things he's doing to the seniors, all of the things he is doing to people who came here trying to make a better life for themselves, the horrific things he is doing to everyone in america. i could go on and on, but i don't have a lot of time. thank you so much for listening and i hope everyone has a happy new year. host: let's go to jay in raleigh, north carolina. caller: i want to make a comment about affordability. i bought gas yesterday for $2.40. that is $20 less a gas tank. i call that affordability. that money is going right back into our pocket. it also, i want to hear americans speak up and say that times are tough, maybe we need to work a little more. we need to pick up a second

part-time job instead of depending on someone else to make the ends meet for us. come on, america. we are better than this. thanks. host: let's hear from vice president jd vance. this is from november and he is asking americans to be patient about the high cost of living. [video clip] >> my message to the american people is, we get it and we know there is wood to chop, because the biden administration put us in a tough spot. the way i think about this is, it is always helpful to take this from the abstractions to the actual real things people are worried about. take, for example, a dozen eggs. i will never forget this. it was maybe the single first press conference the president had done since he had in -- since he had started his second term. some reporter, probably from abc, yells at him and says, what

have you done about the price of eggs? and it is like, it was january 23. like, what do you mean what have we done? it is going to take time to fix that problem. if you are an american who is struggling to get by, you pay your taxes, you want your kids to have opportunities and the price of eggs goes from two dollars a dozen to eight dollars a dozen and then under the trump administration ache goes from eight dollars a dozen to $6.50 a dozen, to you that is still a major problem. and even though we have made incredible progress we understand there is a lot more work today. the thing i would ask from the american people is patience. this economy was not harmed in 10 months. it took a deliberate four-u administration that was making life harder for everyday americans, that was importing foreign workers instead of giving jobs to american workers,

that was over regulating, overtaxing, overspending. we were doing everything wrong. as much progress as it we have made it is going to take time for every american to feel that economic whom we believe is coming. we believe we are on the front end of it but we also recognize we have a lot of work to do to undo the damage joe biden did to the american economy. let's be honest, it is not just joe biden. as much as i think joe biden was one of the most disastrous presidents of american history, we had a policy in this country for 40 years of shipping american jobs overseas and hiring foreign workers instead of american workers. that has caused the economic stagnation of the american middle class. there was one bright spot in 40 years, and that was the first trump administration. there is going to be a massive exception to that trajectory of american decline, and that is the second trump administration. you have to keep it going. host: that was the vice

president speaking in november about the economy. pat in new jersey sent us a text and said, the biggest story this year is the massive fraud in minnesota. this is a story that will continue to be revealed and be the biggest story in 2026. just the tip of the iceberg. that's go to claude in oklahoma, a democrat. clyde, sorry. caller: now with the stop shooting at the boats they got drugs on him that is a different story. just shooting at them not knowing if there are drugs on them is ridiculous, man. i mean, he has already ruined this economy and he is going to make it worse if he keeps on. god bless america and god bless y'all. host: glendale, arizona. you are on the air. caller: happy new year. thanks for taking my call. my top story? whatever it was, because her or the war in ukraine, it all boils down to the media and how they react to all of these new

stories. the one thing, the number one topic is hatred of trump. it is ridiculous. i'm sick of hearing it. everyone is bellyaching about trump and it is amazing. you just had that little segment with the vice president talking about egg prices. all of the problems with the high cost of living has come from a biden administration. ever since covid, in fact. and it is going to take time to clean it up. gas is already down two dollars a gallon, for crying out loud. it is going to take time, and trump has got a mess to clean up from the democrats. you know, epstein is one of them. if democrats want to bellyache about epstein they have a lot of time since the obama administration and they should have attacked trump instead of all of these court cases against trump. that would have been much

easier. so, that is my point. host: let's talk to sherry, republican. good morning. caller: good morning and happy new year. the first 70 years of my life i was a born and raised minnesota in. my husband and i moved to mississippi because we could not take all of the socialism up there anymore and we knew the graft was going on. but one thing, you would have to go back to when ilhan omar got reelected. it took registered voters to vote for her, and when it was raised as a question tim walz just, i saw nothing wrong with that, and he signed off on it and she is off to washington again. host: you said more than 100% voted for her? caller: that's right, more than 100% of registered voters in

that election voted for her. i believe it was 117% of the registered voters. host: and where did you get that information? caller: that was in the newspapers in minnesota. host: ok, bill in new york, good morning. caller: good morning, mimi. i'm wishing you and washington happy new year. it is always wonderful to watch the program. just wanted to say anybody going in with good stories and that kind of took mine, which is one of the fraud being exposed in minnesota. i can't imagine what is going on across our nation. this american delineation from all of the rest of the people is something that we have needed to be doing from a very long time ago. the foundational black americans who are also the natives, to those people who are acting like

them and coming into this country, and really taking advantage of all of the things that should be given to them. much respect to you all and no disrespect to anyone. have a wonderful new year, and, yes, i cannot wait to see what is going to happen in the future with all of this fraud being exposed. thank you. host: stephanie from new jersey, line for democrats. good morning. caller: good morning. my biggest story is the economy. does everybody remember covid? businesses were closing down and whatnot. and inflation was horrible. why do people blame biden for inflation? the other thing, did i just hear the segment that you prayed for

vance? does he say that during biden's administration that jobs would be shipped overseas? host: he said that biden was importing foreign workers instead of giving the jobs to americans. i think referring to the people who came across the board. caller: wasn't the border closed down? president biden is not letting immigrants in doing covid? host: doing covid because of the public health shutdown? that got lifted. caller: i'm sorry? host: that was lifted. caller: yeah. host: ok. vince in florida. good morning. caller: good morning morning and happy new year to you and

everybody out there. the biggest story, i think, is going to be the fraud going on across the nation. not only in minnesota, but it is happening everywhere. that is the tip of the iceberg. they finally cracked it. over $9 billion, they are saying. these people that are trying to say it is all about race, hitting the smalling people, no, no. it's not. but if you look at the facts of the 90-plus people that were arrested, 85 of them were somalians. so, there is an illicit group of people not only in minnesota, but it is happening on the east coast, on the west coast. people need to just wake up, look around, and do some research. that is all i have to say. have a happy new year.

host: happy new year to you, vance. regarding research, here is the national desk has some fact-check information on that, the fraud cases in minnesota. it says, some of the things it says is, federal prosecutors have secured convictions tied to hundreds of millions of dollars of fraud. most prominent case centers on the feeding our future nonprofit , operated under a federal pandemic meal program meant to provide food to children. according to the doj, defendants in that case alone fraudulently siphoned approximately $250 million, making it the largest pandemic relief fraud scheme charged in u.s. history. within 90 individuals have been charged, at least 60 have been convicted. you can read that at the national desk if you would like

more information. cindy, hampton, new hampshire, independent line. good morning. caller: good morning morning. hi, mimi. i wanted to give a little levity for everybody because it is not the top news story of the year. we could go on and on about all of the things, but my favorite story of the year is the raccoon that broke into the liquor store but was found passed out in the bathroom. just for everybody to get a little chuckle. you know, the bears that are breaking into the stores. i mean, is it animals gone wild this year? [laughter] happy 2026. host: cindy, it is in the washington post. it says five of the best good news stories from 2025 and what you mentioned did make that. it says here, a nurse saved a

drunk raccoon from a dumpster using cpr. i'm not sure if that is the one you are talking about. caller: yeah. yeah, definitely. they showed the picture of him and he was sprawled out right before the porcelain pot. [laughter] host: it says, drunk raccoons are having a moment. a raccoon ransacked a liquor store and passed out in the bathroom after making some poor life choices. caller: also, happy new year. host: happy new year. darrell, columbus, georgia. caller: my top story for the year is, of course, the epstein files. we have a pedophile in the white house right now. there is his daughter, and lara

trump, his daughter-in-law -- not letting grandbabies go around papa trump the last thing i want to tell you is tell him please do not cave in. i know you guys are independent. but these guys are trying to shut it all down. they are going to try to do -- that guy in the fcc, carr --they are going to try to do everything they can to shut c-span down. we've got to keep on calling in because we have a lot to say about this. have a great happy new year. host: doug in las vegas, you are

on the air. caller: i would like to say how i think about the economy. i would like to give thanks to the democrats in the last couple of times that ran the government , especially biden. if you don't know about how oil works, oil is in every product you buy, every single product you buy has got oil in it. inflation is mostly when oil goes up. we had that silliness through carter and he jumped the thing way up. host: you are still on. go ahead. caller: the eight dollar price of oil during the last election when biden got elected -- he told everybody what he was going to do. we are going to raise the gas eight dollars. i don't have to work anymore. i would also like to thank the

obama administration for aca. i retired because you paid $14,000 a year that i was paying for my insurance. so i lived on that for the last five years. i retired five years ago. what the democrats have been doing with the economy -- they have been screwing and it worked out really good for us because it is so easy to make money on people that are that dumb. host: justin, republican line, ohio. caller: i wanted to call in because i think one of my biggest things i noticed this year that i personally enjoyed is that america seems to be getting a little bit of its sense of humor back, at least to me. people seemed to be a little bit less hung up on when someone says a certain word or a certain phrase. it seems that, you know, there

is a little bit more let the water roll off your back then there has been in the past few years. and that is probably the biggest positive i can think of from the last year. host: thank you, justin. tom is now on the air. rock island, independent line. caller: good morning. i'm calling him about what really is not the story. even you guys have turned into tv statistics that really are not proven, that are reported by the trump administration. we know trump has 30,000 plus lies, proven, checked. this man is a dictator. the man has sycophants who do what he wants.

he fires people who don't put out statistics he wants. why aren't we being a lot more skeptical of what is going on? let's not look back. let's not look at the future. let's look like we are under a dictator and start doubting the facts they tell us. that is my comment. i wish you would start looking at your other stations as well. what you see is trump promotional films on it. even religious stuff on it. let's get this political. let's stay to the topic. let's doubt our politicians. thank you. host: it was in june that president trump announced he would be deploying the national guard to los angeles. here is a portion of that announcement. pres. trump: called them up to tell them. got to do a better job because of a lot of death and a lot of

potential death. if we did not send out the national guard, and last time we gave them a little additional help, you would have -- los angeles would be burning right now. los angeles would be not a lot different than what we saw take place in california and los angeles just a little while ago. and, you know, you've got to remember, we have the olympics coming, and we don't want people looking at los angeles like it would have been. it would have been bad. last night, they had total control. if we did not have the military in there, the national guard -- and we also sent in some marines. there are bad people. we have people, they look in your face and they spit right in your face, and these are paid insurrectionists, paid troublemakers. they are agitators. they are paid. do you think somebody walks up to a curb and starts hammering pieces out and has all the equipment necessary and starts handing it out to people to use as a weapon? these are paid insurrectionists

or agitators or troublemakers, you can call them whatever you want, and we ended it, and we have in custody some very bad people, very bad people. did you see the guy throwing the rocks at the police cars as they went by, and crushing their windows, endangering our police? we are not going to let that happen, no. host: also from june, this is california governor gavin newsom's response to the president sending the national guard to los angeles. [video] gov. newsom: he federalized another 2000 guard members and deployed more than 700 active u.s. marines. these are the men and women trained for foreign combat, not domestic law enforcement. we honor their service. we honor their bravery. but we do not want our streets militarized by our own armed forces. not in l.a., not in california,

not anywhere. we are seeing unmarked cars, unmarked cars in school parking lots, kids afraid of attending their own graduation. trump is pulling a military dragnet all across los angeles, well beyond his stated intent to just go after violent and serious criminals. his agents are arresting dishwashers, gardeners, day laborers, and seamstresses. that is just weakness. weakness masquerading as strength. donald trump's government is not protecting our communities. they are traumatizing our communities. and that seems to be the entire point. california will keep fighting. we will keep fighting on behalf of our people -- all of our people -- including in the courts. host: that was in june. we are asking for your top new story of the year. here is jennifer, missouri. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call and happy new year. i just wanted to mention quickly a few things, starting with the

clip you showed of jd vance talking about affordability and the price of eggs and all that, and the price of eggs went up due to the bird flu. it was not regulations or any of biden's policy that really had anything to do with that. and also he is talking about immigrants coming into the country and he is trying to push how the immigrants are causing the housing affordability crisis and other affordability crisis do to immigrants, and that is not true. we had immigrants during the gold rush. we brought in a bunch of foreigners to help with that. we brought in foreigners to help build the railroads. the country was really built with the help of foreigners that we brought him, and now we are kicking out all of these immigrants who do a lot of work

that the americans won't do in the farms and all that. i just don't believe half of what the trump administration has to say. trump has been a proven liar over and over again. another comment for the guy who said that he saved $20 on a tank of gas -- well, oil is pretty volatile. mark my words. by the end of the trumpet ministration, gas will go up again. it goes up and it goes down. maybe you saved $20 on a tank of gas, but you look at your electric bill and your grocery bill, you know, you just lost that $20 that you saved. in any case, not happy with this administration, his dehumanization of people, talking about different foreigners doing this and that, and he generalizes the whole country, the whole culture, and makes everybody seem bad. i just -- i think he is a bad

president for this country. thank you for taking my call. host: timothy, mansfield, ohio, independent line. you are on the air. caller: first of all, i am independent. i vote for either side. it has been very hard. i'm a former soldier. the whole idea of a person that was afraid to be a soldier wants to command soldiers, a person that has no respect for military wants to command the military and have them do all kind of stuff that he himself was too afraid to do. presidents and pedophilia in administrations -- all of that stuff is not right. just at the beginning, if a person cannot just stop -- the president or his administration

or anybody -- and say we need to investigate what happened to these young girls, these women -- let's expose it. this thing that america is doing right now, we are not looking at the real. we are talking about children. who are we protecting? if i was in that scenario, anything like that, i would be in prison, may be dead by now. i just want fairness, right? we need to know about the epstein files. the man needs to tell us his involvement or their involvement. that is all i have to say. happy new year to you guys. host: a couple of programming notes for you for your new year's celebrations. that is first of all we will have live coverage from times square. you can watch the scenes from new york city and the video celebrating the 250th anniversary of the united states. the ball drop at midnight will include a patriotic salute to america's birthday. that starts at 6:00 p.m. eastern

here on c-span. also, you can ring in the new year with a fireworks show in washington, d.c. on the national mall, starting just before midnight. you will see a candle projected on the washington monument in honor of america's 250th birthday. that is on c-span two. both those programs are going to be on our website and on our app. on the line for democrats, in brooklyn, new york, alexander. good morning to you. caller: good morning, and happy new year to you and the rest of the c-span team, and the rest of the listeners. some really, really insightful shows this morning, showing the range of topics that everyone has picked on. thinking of everything everybody has said, the story of this year for me is the failure of the american people. i am extremely disappointed that

coming into 2015-2016, knowing from the first tapes that came out about trump and the way that he treated women, the way that he treated his opponents in the primaries, and spoke about everybody, saying even the first primary he ran was rigged against him, knowing full well all the evidence of the thousands of cases against him, the corruption, everything else -- bankruptcies -- and here we are. the american people picked this person again, and he has been destroying the government while claiming he did not know the 2025 project, and picking the most destructive and embarrassing administration, that has destroyed this country. for me, the misinformation, the disinformation, and the corruption of the minds of the

people of this country -- with c-span, the tool that could give them the resources to see the facts for what they are, they still fall for the lies. and one last thing so i can get off. show to the american people the projection of what the temperature of this world will be now that we have gone beyond 1.5 degrees celsius and we are jumping to 2.6. the misinformation and disinformation about the real disasters that are happening in this world are just being ignored. if you could just do me that favor, i would really appreciate it. host: all right, alexander. let's talk to andrew in detroit, michigan. caller: hello. i am an extra supporter. -- x trump supporter. i voted for trump -- trump in 2020 and 2024 but now consider

myself anti-trump. it is not from the mag of voters who serve the historic mandate in 2024. the top news story in 2025 is trump's betrayal of his supporters and the mega -- maga base. illustrated by total capitulation to israel and the epstein cover-up perpetrated by trump's department of justice. that is all i have to say. thank you for taking my call and happy new year. host: lynn in oregon, republican. good morning. caller: i think the top story just is donald trump, whether you like him or don't like him. he is on every channel that you listen to, conservative based or liberal based. he is still a topic. i've voted for him each time since he was the republican nominee.

i did not vote for him in the primary. he says a certain amount of -- chaos could be too strong a word but it is the thing i am coming up with. but the policies are basically good. i see a lot of hyperbole. that she speaks with a lot of hyperbole. he does tend to focus much conversation on himself. i don't believe he actually lies. he does speak globally and speaks in the matter of what he intends to do, whether that is what actually happens or not. donald is on outside the box thinker. he does accomplish things, which is better than doing absolutely nothing. so i still support him. host: this is republican congresswoman marjorie taylor greene.

she was on cnn in november, vowing to end her use of toxic rhetoric, and her rift with president trump. here is a portion of that. [video] >> you posted on x that president trump is, with his comments, feeling hot bed threats against you. obviously, any threats to your safety are completely unacceptable. but we have seen these kinds of attacks or criticism from the president at other people. it is not new. and with respect, i have not heard you speak out about it until it was directed at you. rep. green: dana, i think that is fair criticism, and i would like to say humbly i'm sorry for taking part in the toxic politics. it is very bad for our country and i have -- it has been something i have thought about a lot, especially since charlie kirk was assassinated, is that

we -- i am only responsible for myself and my own words and actions, and i am committed. i have been working on this a lot lately, to put down the knives in politics. i really just want to see people be kind to one another, and we need to figure out a new path forward that is focused on the american people, because as americans, no matter what side of the aisle we are on, we have far more in common than we have differences. and we need to be able to respect each other with our disagreements. dana: just to put a button on this, you regret the things you have said and posted in the past? the facebook post that was taken down of you in 2020 holding a gun alongside the squad, encouraging people to go on the offense against the socialists. liking a tweet of somebody calling for the execution of nancy pelosi and former president obama -- just examples. rep. green: dana, as you know

and many people know, i addressed that back in 2021, and of course i never want to cause any harm or anything bad for anyone, so that was addressed back then and i very much stand by my word. host: back calls on the top news story of 2025. here is michael, lancaster, california, democrat. caller: happy new year. i don't have a top story right now, but what i wanted to say was i've been blind -- i lost my eyesight about five years ago. the memorial that you did today, it seemed like it was pretty nice, but next time, could you guys name the participants, the people that were in there? there is a lot of blind people like myself, and we just hear the voices and we don't know who they are that you were talking about. host: understood, michael. that is good feedback. caller: if i had to pick a

story, it would probably be donald trump sending troops into our cities and stuff. i spent 10 years in the military, and one thing that i always would have hated is to have to be called against my own people. so that would be my top story. thank you. happy new year. host: happy new year to you, michael. joyce, republican, on the air. caller: [sighs] i called about four years ago and said that hate has got to stop, and yet every time i turn on c-span, it is hating trump, and he is trying to save america. people do not realize because the media does not tell, just like mamdani just one new york city. do people not realize what has happened to america?

socialism and communism is taking over, and president trump is trying to keep us back on the path of america. and everyone calls and says, oh, he is destroying democracy, and he is a dictator. they never give an example of how he is not following the law, how he is being a dictator. they just are saying things they hear on the other stations, and you can tell the people who sit all day and listen to cnn, and msnbc, and they are just brainwashed. open your eyes. you forget about by genomics -- bidenomics, and it's transitory, all the inflation, and biden used up our strategic oil so he could get gas prices down because of going too high, and then realized they were going to lose. president trump is out there

fighting for america. he loves america. he is a multibillionaire. he does not have to be president . am i still on? host: yes, you are. are you done, joyce? caller: i just looked at my tv. host: i did not hang up. caller: i thought i got cut off. i think trump is the main story is he is turning america back to america, and these people calling, the illegals, immigrants -- they are brainwashed, calling them immigrants. yes, america reflects on immigrants who went through processes. and the biden administration, 21 million people would never get it. host: annette, also in georgia, democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. host: go ahead, annette.

we are listening. caller: my story of the year -- i would say what really sent chills up my spine was the doge coming into the government and slashing jobs and going into our social security information. that right there -- the american people should be very, very scared. even though there is a lot to talk about, that doge is what sent chills up my spine. listen, people. doge went into our personal information. the government is supposed to protect us. people from off the street had no business into our files. and another thing i want to

mention is that people are calling in on the republican line talking about y'all always talking about trump, yell hate trump, and all of this mess. let me take you back. trump came into office with baggage. this is not the american people talking about trump and talking about bad things about trump. this is trump being trump. he came into the government. when he came into the white house, he had baggage of scamming people. he had cases that were pending where he had scammed people out of their money. he had so much going on. this is what brought to the american government. and i want to say one more thing about bidenomics. we are talking about handing

trump a bad economy? do y'all remember covid? do you remember what biden had to come into where everything was out and biden had to stabilize the country? do y'all remember that? ok, you are talking about inherits a bad economy? host: speaking of doge, take a look at this. this is from february, where president trump responds to a question about elon musk and his team getting access to the treasury department's payment system. pres. trump: he has access only to letting people go that are no good, if i agree with him, and it is only if we agree with him. he is a very talented guy, from the standpoint of management and costs. we put him in charge to see what he can do with certain groups and certain numbers. the numbers -- some of the numbers are horrible, when he

has found 100 -- think of it. $100 million on condoms for hamas. condoms to hamas. and many other things that are frankly even more ridiculous. they are finding tremendous waste. really, waste more than anything else, i think you could say. probably fraud and abuse could be added. waste, fraud, and abuse. they are finding tremendous amounts of really bad things, bad spending. even reading about -- you have been writing about some of it, frankly. some of the things they have been doing is just terrible. leon, elon, won't do and can't do anything without our approval. we will give him the approval where appropriate. we are not appropriate, we won't. it is something that he feels very strongly about, and we are

impressed because he has run a big company. it has nothing to do with this. we won't let him get near it. but he has a team of very talented people. we are trying to shrink government, and he can probably shrink it as well as anybody else, if not better. where we think there is a conflict or there is a problem, we won't let him go near it. but he has some very good ideas. we have a lot of other talented people also. we are bringing in the most talented people in the world. host: this is on the front page of "the new york times" today. a government upended by a decimation of jobs under trump. a lean federal workforce results in less efficient services. it says the extent of the effect on the public so far is unclear. some of the white house's moves are stalled by a wave of litigation. more than 200 lawsuits have challenged the firing of federal workers and the elimination of programs, the vast majority of which are still pending.

agencies have not fully detailed the number of staff members and services that have been cut, making it difficult to discern the full scope of the difference between today's federal government and the one from a year ago. that is the new york times this morning, and this is linda in new york. democrat. caller: i don't really know what the top story would be. i just don't understand the american people have voted in a man like trump. i know the one lady says everybody hates trump, but to make it normal that this man is doing normal things, to me, is just beyond -- i just don't understand it. i am 75 years old and i -- i know that a lot of the classmates that i graduated are feeling the same way. what has happened to the people

of this country to vote in a man like this, who just is -- i mean, when you say why don't you like him, i mean, every day he shows us why not to -- why not to like him or understand. just, to me -- i just don't understand it. i will leave this earth never understanding it. i look back and i think at the end of the biden administration the inflation was 2.9%. it has gone up since trump is here. and i do understand, like the woman said, biden had to deal with the shutdown of the world from covid. you might not have agreed with some of the things that he did, but in general -- in general, he was a decent man -- empathetic, compassionate. i look back at the eight years

of president obama. there might have been things you disagreed with, but the man was a decent, compassionate, empathetic man, and intelligent, and now all we have is -- you've got vance standing up giving speeches saying you don't have to be apologizing for being white now. the caliber of people that are there in that administration -- it is pathetic. host: we are going to pause our calls. we will get back to your calls. 2026 marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of america in 1776, on july 4. so we are going to talk to rosie rios, the america 250 commission chair. rosie, welcome to the program. guest: thank you for having me. host: the america 250 commission has a partnership with one times square and the times square

alliance. can you explain what that partnership is about? guest: absolutely. the owner of the one times square building, and the times square alliance, our partners, and kind of having three bites of the new york apple this year. first of all, i am here in times square today. this is the moment that is going to spark the movement forward. we are here to do a second celebration at 12:04, where we are going to mark the semiquincentennial, the signing of the declaration of independence, with several tons of confetti. a great way to kind of bring the patriotism to life in a way that times square has never seen before. in addition to that, we are coming back on july 3, and out of the almost 120 year history of the times square ball drop, this is going to be the first one ever outside of new year's eve. we are doing it to ring in july

4. and we are coming back again on december 31 of next year, because we have a number of exciting initiatives that will conclude at that time. also a great way to hopefully keep the momentum going even long after 2026. host: so there will be another ball drop on july 3, midnight? guest: the first time ever outside of new year's eve. it will be everything you can imagine and much more. host: we will be covering all of that on c-span. we will be covering tonight the ball drop, and you mention 12:04. we got to see a preview of the 2026 numeral's being installed. what was that about? guest: it was pretty incredible. it is the numerals. it is the crystals on the new ball, waterford crystals. it is the technology that is being deployed in a way that has never happened before. even take a step back from that. yes, to see the numeral's being lit up of 2026 -- next month is

going to be eight years that i have been on this commission. to see it all come to fruition in a way that this commission has envisioned is really, really special. but just the excitement of seeing over 5000 crystals that are being used as part of this ball. it is over 12 feet in diameter. it is pretty incredible to see and be part of the testing, seeing our logo on the ball, seeing the red, white, and blue twinkling of the stars. it is just really, really magical. host: there is also the official launch of "america gives" at midnight. what can you tell us about that? guest: i would say that of all of our movement activities -- we have the moment tonight, and the movement which is going to be sparked by america gives. this is my favorite. america gives is a national

service initiative that makes giving back a year-round effort. we are making 2020 six the largest year of volunteer hours ever recorded by our country, and it starts literally at the stroke of midnight, and we are taking it all the way through calendar year 2026, and as i mentioned, we are going to make that grand announcement next december 30 one of what that volunteer record is going to look like. i can only predict. i'm curious how it is going to all work out. but it is going to be incredible. i think this is not just what our country wants. i think this is what our country needs. host: can you tell us about some of the other activities america 250 has in store for us this year? guest: absolutely. if you go to our website, you can already get involved in so many ways. one, you can go and learn more about america gives, as we mention. we already have america's field trip already underway. this is our third round.

it is a national student competition. you answer the question what does america mean to me through an essay, a problem, artwork. in exchange, they give you a series of backstage experiences, most of which have never been offered to the public before. that is life now. it is a great holiday activity for kids on their brakes. the deadline is the end of march. we also have our american story. you can go online and nominate whose story you think should be preserved in perpetuity at the library of congress. all of this is on our website at america 250.org. that is the movement. we will have so many more moments beyond what anyone could even dream about. host: an c-span is the official media partner, so we will be with you along the way and will be showing that to your audience , all those things you have planned. rosie rios, america 250 commission chair. the website is america250.org.

and back to our calls. we are asking you about your top news story of 2025. we will take your calls until the end of the program at 10:00. this is kristin in indiana, independent line. good morning. caller: good morning, mimi. happy new year. host: happy new year to you. caller: i found this show in 2025, so that was a big highlight. my top news story of 2020 five was the first american pope in history. gives me some hope that america can still produce good world leaders. i knew that before the pope, but i wanted to call in and say that. thank you very much. host: we did cover the funeral of pope francis here on c-span in its entirety, so you can go ahead and take a look at that at c-span.org. on the line for republicans, north carolina, mike, you are on the air. caller: the first thing i want to say is we are seeing the

greatest generation of war soldiers and greatest generation of america, soldiers from world war ii and the korean war, dying off. we are probably going to be alive to see the last ones. my dad fought in world war ii. perhaps the greatest generation, in my opinion. not from them. from vietnam to know -- the greatest generation was world war ii. but my top story is trump. i voted for him all three times. i know when biden come in, he said just give me some legislation to set the borders. if comella -- kamala would have got elected, we would have had 100 million refugees in this country. democrats do not understand illegal immigration. you come in this country illegally, it would be illegal.

trump is doing his best. and how many years did obama blame bush for the economy? how many years? all eight years of his administration. but trump is doing what he can to help this country. it don't flip overnight. it don't hinge overnight. it has got to go gradually. marjorie taylor greene, she wanted to run for senate in georgia, and all the wing numbers said she would come in more than any of the democrats. that is why she turned on trump. those of scene files, all you hear -- you have a couple of republicans and a democrat talking about it. they ought to release everything and everything, unredacted and everything, and all of the survivors that got paid from the epstein estate, let them all sue the democrats and a couple

republicans, but put everything out there. every single thing out there. let it be out. they are trying to say they want to protect the survivors in all this stuff. ok, you've got to take time to redact stuff. they have politicians and rich lawyers from larry summers and all them. their names are exposed. the main thing is like a bunch of rabid dogs. they all want to find something on trump, find something on trump. you can use that report from the wall street journal, i think, yesterday, that trump severed ties with epstein. i wish you would lead that. host: donald in honolulu, hawaii, independent line. caller: good morning, aloha. i just want to say my top story is trump being president. you know this epstein thing that is going around -- all of these

people in washington are lawyers. they have all of these victims from the epstein gigs. they could open a case and blow it wide open. e. jean carroll convicted trump on only her words. they made stormy daniels come to court and testify when an nda signed legal document -- they did all that on the epstein case, it would blow it wide open. but nobody in washington wants to do it. what a year. happy new year. host: this is ellen, florida, democrat, good morning. caller: good morning. happy new year. i would say the top story is

trump and everything his administration has done. and also one of the big things to me is how c-span -- this year i believe is when you stopped doing your fact checking, and one of the reasons that came to my mind this morning when i heard the clip where trump is talking about the millions of dollars spent on condoms to hamas. i believe there were never any facts to prove that. is that correct? host: that is absolutely true. that was an exaggeration. but when that first came out, we did fact check that on the air. i remember doing that myself. caller: ok, because i was not even sure if condoms had been sent at all to hamas. and another thing -- host: there might have been to gaza as part of some public health initiatives, but certainly not that number.

caller: exactly. there are so many other things that even exceed the scope of that. i mean, have you even looked at how much doge actually saved us, or did they end up costing us money? how much of our data did they take? i don't think we really know about that yet. and trump and crypto and how his family is getting wealthy on that, and how they control the regulation -- i mean, there is just so much, you know? the pardons of the january 6 people who went to court and were convicted by juries of their peers -- him releasing, pardoning the president of honduras that we know did trafficking and drugs, and he expects us to believe he is hard on crime. it is just too much. host: republican line, virginia

beach, virginia. mike, you are on the air. caller: my story of 2025 recently happened here in minnesota. you have a representative of that state, as well as tim walz. there is fraud, these massive amounts of fraud going on here. and donald trump is basically power for the course. the liberals spent any narrative they can to blame for anything. outside of all that, you know the real reason why i think obama was a terrible president -- you know, first thing he did in office was basically took abortion and put it in the taxpayers hands to try to do that, which was unconstitutional. he mandated covid vaccinations for every business that had a

certain amount of employees. host: your talking about biden? not obama? caller: biden, my bed. he did this with undocumented and unvaccinated illegal immigrants in this country, at the same time putting covid tests in people's faces and firing them. that in itself was also unconstitutional, what he did with that. but then, you know, the student loan forgiveness was another example of something that is illegal, that the supreme court found that as well. biden's mandates alone is the biggest reason that i thought -- the man is absolutely untethered to the constitution. host: bringing us to 2025, you would say your biggest new story of the year was what? caller: i would say the biggest

story of the year is the largest scandal, the fraud scam going on in minnesota under tim walz's watch, without a doubt. host: a couple of callers mention the epstein files. here is what president trump said about it in september. [video] >> there are survivors of jeffrey epstein speaking in a press conference on capitol hill. they're calling for these documents to be released. thomas massie has a discharge petition to get the house to vote on these. many of your friends and donors may be in these files, and he says this is why there is the redacting and slow walking. are their friends or donors? pres. trump: this is a democrat hoax that never ends. it reminds me a little bit of the kennedy situation. everything, over and over again, more and more, and nobody is

ever satisfied. from what i understand, thousands of pages of documents have been given, but it is really a democrat hoax, because they are trying to get people to talk about something that is totally irrelevant to the success we have had as a nation since i have been president. even if you look at d.c. right now -- d.c. is a totally safe zone. it is called a safe zone. that is a term. it is a term of art. it is a safe zone because it is very safe. you can marked on the street now and nothing is going to happen. no crime, no murders, no nothing. we have a lot of problems with certain places, and we still do, all run by democrats, or for the most part run by democrats. so what they are trying to do with the epstein hoax is get people to talk about that instead of speaking about the tremendous success like ending seven wars. i ended seven wars. nobody is going to talk about this. they are going to talk about the epstein whatever. i understand we were subpoenaed

for the files. i understand we delivered thousands of pages of files. i know that no matter what you do, it is going to keep going. and i think it is -- really, i think it is enough, because i think we should talk about the greatness of our country and the success that we are having. i think we are probably having, according to what i read, even from people in this room -- we are having the most successful eight months of any president ever, and that is what i want to talk about. that is what we should be talking about. host: this is william, independent line. caller: the lady who said people call it in to talk about trump and don't mention anything he does that is illegal, we could talk about the constitution, ignoring court orders, the emoluments clause, taking the plane is a gift, abusing his office to make him and his family wealthy, or wealthier --

just so many different things. ignoring being in the epstein files, which is being brought up so much. but still has not released the files and now talking about there are 5 million more and it is going to take more weeks. so my top story is basically the seven wars thing. there is no proof that he has ended any wars, really, and some of them are still ongoing conflicts, and he is just bragging about this stuff, and yet he has no proof of it. this trillions of dollars coming into our country -- where is the $18 trillion? most say it is around 8 million, as opposed to 18. the fact that he also makes comments like "the next inauguration is going to be in the new ballroom." how would he determine the inauguration question mark that the hepatitis vaccine should be given to children when they are sexually active, when they are 12 --

there are a lot of things about trump that unfortunately these fox news narrators that come on sometimes and talk about him on this line particularly are talking about how everyone is brainwashed. that is the biggest thing that is going on right now. no matter what trump does, everybody finds a reason and the keep going back to obama, 16 years ago, and biden. he is not in office anymore. i'm the economy is still not better. inflation. unemployment has ticked up. these are people who want to boast about trump being the greatest president of all time. you might want to actually do some fact checking and stop letting a i tell them everything. i hope you have a happy new year. host: happy new year to you, william. a previous caller asked about the condoms to gaza. "the guardian" has this. trump repeats false claim that

u.s. sends condoms to gaza. the claim was first made in a press conference, prompting fox hosts to say condoms were also being used to bomb israel. this is richard, democrat, missouri. good morning, richard. caller: i think the new story is happening right now. we have got the president and the man we have for war chief bombing boats with the greatest military in the world. if we are going to invade venezuela -- we invaded vietnam. the black pajamas -- they did not do much. they did not have aircraft carriers. but they killed 55,000 of us. think about the war in venezuela. your sons and daughters just for some damn nonsense try to prove

how brave they are. i would say war crimes are being committed by the president of the united states, and i don't know what to do with that. host: we got a text from anna in california saying, mimi, you are awesome. the news i never imagined i would see here was a socialist winning an election. this is just the beginning of socialism taking over. sad that we cannot learn from other countries that have tried socialist concepts but have failed. speaking of mayor elect sore, his inauguration ceremony will be taking place at 1:00 p.m. eastern time tomorrow. we will have live coverage of that here on c-span. among the speakers will be representative alexandria causey of cortez new york. -- alexandria ocasio-cortez of new york. caller: good morning. happy new year. i am calling -- the greatest story of 2025 was how all these

patriots have stood up against the biggest fascist regime in our history. i am talking about the no kings events, where thousands and thousands of people have marched the streets and come out for america. the reason why the united states was even founded was for people protesting against a king. and we have been doing that every week and lots of red states and blue states, and it just gets so little press from -- well, we are fighting for the freedom of the press, and now it has been taken over. cbs news has been taken over by the trump regime. i mean, you have to go to

independent places to find the real news. but i am so proud of my patriots that have been out protesting against this awful, awful destruction of our republic, of our democracy. it is just happening every week and nobody is paying attention to it except for on the biggest days when people can't get through washington, d.c. or new york city because everybody is protesting for our wonderful country, to keep it alive. and we will be, in 2026 -- we will have congress back. congress has been under the thumb of the trump regime, and it will come back to us in 2026. host: let's talk to john and conover, north carolina, republican. caller: to pick a story of 2025,

for me it could be january 20, when donald trump was elected, and it was wonderful. the other thing about that is we have three more years of not listening about race, gender, climate change, which is the weather, by the way, people. i do believe in climate change. climate changes [laughter] that's it for me. host: another big story of the year is the government shutdown. it was the longest in history at 43 days. from november, house speaker mike johnson, speaking to reporters after the vote to reopen the federal government. rep. johnson: we feel very relieved tonight. the democrat shutdown is finally over thanks to house and senate republicans who stood together to get the job done. absolutely no question in anybody's mind at the moment that the democrats were responsible for this.

what happened? millions of american families went without food on their table. we had millions of americans stranded in airports with flights canceled or delayed. we had troops and federal employees wondering where their next paycheck would come from. the democrats openly admitted -- they openly admitted, many of them said it in their own words, that they used the american people as leverage in this political game. they knew that it would cause that pain to the people, and they did it anyway. they did it for their own selfish purposes, their political purposes, and it was a game they played with real people's lives. it is something that is very difficult to forgive. i want to say that all of this was utterly pointless and foolish. this outcome was totally foreseeable. i said that this would be the outcome back in september. they did it anyway. democrats admitted they use the people as leverage, and they got nothing for their selfish political stunting. they did not achieve anything with this at all.

and anyone who studied history would know that shutdowns never yield any positive result. it just hurts people. i said on the house floor a little while ago that we did all of this in good faith. from the beginning, i was insistent about this. our leadership team was. the republicans did the right thing. we had a nonpartisan continuing resolution. we did not have any republican priorities on it at all. we just said in good faith let's keep the lights on. let's keep this going for another seven weeks, so that the congress can do its work, so they can get back to the regular appropriations process. the way that it is supposed to be done for the people. so we are good stewards with their money. that has not been done here in a while. host: let's talk to darrell in ohio, democrat. caller: thank you for taking my call. i want to mention, what you live, you learn. what you learn, you become. we have so much division going

on in the world, and the divisions we are passing on to our children. we are passing on to everyone. and this has to stop, because it is not doing anything but stunting our growth with all this division. one other thing i would like to add is that i really think the next president of the united states elects should be a generational x. why do i say that? because the generational x can understand the views that are going on now. whether that generational x is republican, democratic, or independent. if you can, can you do research for me to see if we have ever had a president in office that was generational x? i would definitely appreciate that if you could do that for me. host: here is frankie in pennsylvania, independent line. caller: good morning. the only nice thing i'm going to say this morning is that your nails look beautiful, as they

always do. my top story is not just of the year, but it is of our lifetime. it just happened to happen this year. we are on the second crusades of humanity. we are about to go into scientifical darkness again. what happened the first time -- 500 years of scientifical darkness set our species back incredibly. thanks to two men who wear way too much orange makeup -- what they are doing to the scientifical community and the scientifical doubt of medicine, human caused climate change -- they are about to -- we are watching a beginning of the destroying of humanity as we know it. this is going to go down in history for thousands of years if we survive. they are going to look back and when you look back at what the

crusades did to our species and how it just changed the world, and not in a good way -- this is what we are observing during her lifetime. so i wish everybody luck, and the next generation, what we are doing to them is letting two men with orange makeup -- it is astounding to me. i met a lossscience is the onlyt will save us, not imaginary gods. i would like a recommendation that carl sagan, nobody listened. he called it in 1995, and it is all happening now. host: we have time for one more call. patrick. alabama. republican. caller: good morning and happy new year. it is clear that c-span hired that guy from cnn last year that you all inherited cnn based

leaders too. host: your top new story of 2020 five, quickly, please. caller: my top news story as i used to joke with my boss that if trump did something in public they would look for it. the new york times posted it. host: we will have to end it they are. we will be back with you tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. eastern time. this was the last show of 2025. happy new year everybody and have a great year in 2026. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2025] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] ♪ >> on this new year's eve,

c-span will have live coverage throughout the day and evening of events to bring in the new year. starting at 6:00 p.m. eastern on c-span, we will take you to times square in new york city as the crowd starts to gather for pr celebratorye festivities. then at 7:00 we will head to the national mall in washington, d.c., for a light and projection show at the washington monument. at 11:00 eastern on c-span, we are back at times square for the final countdown and ball drop it just before midnight on c-span2, more america 250 coverage with a fireworks show on the national mall. our new year's eve coverage is available to watch on the free c-span now app an online at c-span.org. c-span, democracy unfiltered. we are funded by these television companies and more, including cox. >> when connection is needed

most, cox is there to help, bringing affordable internet to families in need, new tech to boys and girls club's, and support veterans. whenever and wherever it matters most, we will be there. >> cox supports c-span as a public service along with these other television providers, giving you a front-row seat to democracy. >> up next, we will take you back to january 2025, where a joint session of congress was held the county the electoral college votes for the 2024 presidential election. vice president kamala harris and house speaker mike johnson presided over the session. >> the house will come to order.

[bangs gavel] mr. speaker and members of congress, congress, pursuant to the constitution and laws of the united states, the senate and house of representatives are meeting in joint session to verify the certificates and count the votes of the electricker toes -- electors of the several states for president and vice president of the united states. after ascertainment has been had that the certificates are authentic and correct in form, the tellers will count and make a list of the votes cast by the electors of the several states. the tellers on the part of the two houses will take their places at the clerk's desk.

without objection, the tellers will dispense with reading formal portions of the certificates after ascertaining that the certificates are regular in form and authentic, the tellers will announce the votes cast by the electors for each state beginning with alabama.